So what is this post about? I will tell you. First you have to hear a quick story.
Since I have castigated Twitter for some time on a number of recent posts, someone recently asked me why I would criticize Twitter if I had a profile on Twitter. The answer lies in the Powerball / Lotto Theory.
To win at Powerball, you have to be in it to win it. If you buy one ticket you increase your chances of winning tremendously versus not playing at all. No one is going to call you up to say that y [...]

Did you know that the more choices you offer, the less satisfaction your customer will have with the choice he or she makes? It is true and is the subject of Barry Schwartz’s book: The Paradox of Choice, Why More is Less.
This is not going to evaluate the book at all but more to talk about my personal experience with L.L.Bean. I hope you will be able to take way something (in a marketing your business) from my story. If you are in business for yourself and offer products and services yo [...]

There are now powerful tools to create really great landing pages. I’ll discuss a few in moment, but tools alone will not get you the riches you desire. Because as you will see, we’ve had all sorts of tools in the past, but many of us have failed to make them work for us.
First, we had websites, and everyone thought “If we build it, they’ll come.” But did they? Probably not. And if they did, did you sell anything? Probably not. I’m pessimistic because the vast majority of online bus [...]

If you are a business owner and you are involved in doing your own marketing such as magazine ads, marketing postcards and e-mails, do not ignore the junk mail that you get from other businesses. Cherish them. Getting junk mail is your best marketing education and a great for finding new prospects. You should relish it and bring it on. For two main reasons:
#1 You have just found a new prospect to put on your mailing list.
#2 You can learn from these mailings and see how they have affect [...]

My Pen Story
Several years ago, I was at a small-business expo in Raleigh, North Carolina where I was assailed by a vendor of a real estate agency. This excitable man was convinced that I needed a free pen:
“Here!” he said, pushing his promotional, logo laden pen into my face.
“No, thanks,” I said politely as I walked on by.
“But, it’s FREE,” he bellowed, wiggling the pen in my face.
“I KNOW,” I responded with equal vigor, looking over my shoulder walking away.
This vendor lat [...]

I've been buying stuff on Amazon for over 15 years now, and just today was the first time I received an e-mail from the seller. The product I purchased was some vitamins. The seller sent me an e-mail to give me some tips on how to use their product and how to stay healthy. Now, that's adding value after the fact.
Below is the e-mail I received:
Hi Ash,
Your order of Neuro-Peak just shipped! To track your package, you can view your order here .
By choosing Neuro-Peak, you’ve taken an excelle [...]

This may or may not be a continuing series. It all depends how annoyed I get.
Here you’ll find my rants about bad ads, and you will find my good advice on what to do to make them better.
Below are the first four ads I saw in my latest issue of Popular Science magazine that leave me speechless. Maybe, I haven’t been paying attention or maybe I have, but seeing these ads I just had to say something.
[caption id="attachment_1111" align="alignnone" width="640"] This headline says nothing ab [...]

1) You must be 100% devoted to your business.
There have been quite a few pitches on Shark Tank where the product was right, the price was right and the timing was right. But the one thing the sharks didn’t like was a lack of 100% of total commitment to the business.
Some contestants didn’t seem like they had the drive, but most importantly, there were some contestants who had another job or business on the side. And the sharks just didn’t like that.
And some contestants had family c [...]

1) Better Reviews – Meeting Expectations.
The number one reason why you get a bad review on for your book on Amazon is because the book didn’t meet you customer’s expectations. Go ahead, and read the reviews. You’ll see a clear pattern. The book didn’t live up to the hype.
Either the cover, the title or the book description led the reader to believe that what he was getting was something other than what he actually got, and now he’s disappointed.
Your Amazon book description is th [...]

I recently was looking into Squarespace to develop a new website for myself. You’ve probably seen the Super Bowl ad with John Malkovich. I had new product to launch, so I was looking for alternatives to WordPress.
Since I had used an online development tool before (Unbounce for landing pages), I seriously considered Squarespace. I also know of one person who has used Squarespace, and she said it was easy to set up. She had no web experience so it was perfect for her. Since I had lots of exper [...]